Leadership professor leverages multi-faceted background to enrich cadets

Dr. Amanda Metcalfe, U.S. Air Force Academy Behavioral Sciences and Leadership assistant professor, poses for a portrait at the Academy March 21, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley)

By Katherine Spessa
U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. – Dr. Amanda Metcalfe has been part of the U.S. Air Force Academy family for over a decade.

Having started out as a Military Family Life Counselor and starting the Academy’s MFLC program with a partner in 2013, she later became a leadership and behavioral sciences researcher and assistant professor with the help of her colleagues who saw her potential as a teacher.

“I was surrounded by all of these really impressive people and decided I wanted to get my PhD,” Metcalfe said. “And with their help, I did.”

Counselor to professor

Once part of the Academy’s faculty, her educational and clinical background made her an immediate success.

“Cadets flocked to her as a mentor,” said Col. Richard Cooney, Jr., Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department head. “I get feedback from the dean, from colleagues, from cadets, about just how wonderful she is. She isn’t counseling cadets and faculty, but she has the skills to help them through stress, and they really benefit from her experience.”

Metcalfe says the shift from counselor to teacher was apt.

“I’ve been a clinician in this military community since I was 21 years old, but at some point, I decided it would be nice to shift into a preventive space,” Metcalfe said. “Being a therapist is important because you’re often helping people put out their emotional fires, the conflict in their lives and their families. With teaching, you’re helping young people learn how to navigate these situations before they happen.”

She focuses her classes on the tools she feels are important for cadets in their future as Air Force leaders: critical thinking and the ability to have productive conversations with people they disagree with.

Dr. Amanda Metcalfe, U.S. Air Force Academy Behavioral Sciences and Leadership assistant professor, teaches an introductory leadership course at the Academy March 21, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley)

Intracultural lessons

In addition to using her background as a counselor, Metcalfe offers cadets a unique perspective and breadth of knowledge from her research on women’s leadership strategies in post-conflict zones.

Dr. Amanda Metcalfe, U.S. Air Force Academy Behavioral Sciences and Leadership assistant professor, poses for a portrait at the Academy March 21, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley)

Metcalfe began conducting her international research whilst earning her doctorate of philosophy at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, publishing her thesis “Freedom Movement: A Case Study of Feminist Leadership in Kurdistan.”

She has since taken her study to Rwanda, Serbia, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, Spain and Iceland, publishing further studies on what women leaders at the grassroots and political levels have implemented and learned after a war, genocide or economic collapse.

“She has some leadership experiences and insight in leadership that are uncommon amongst the faculty,” Cooney said. “The work that she’s done with an international perspective and focus on gender are contributions from which the cadets and faculty both benefit.”

After dozens of interviews and countless hours of research, Metcalfe has a host of lessons and anecdotes she has further distilled into tools she can offer cadets to approach institutional or interpersonal challenges.

“I really enjoy helping them think about how they can use knowledge to be change agents and productive individuals,” she said. “I do a lot of activities in class where they can take these skills and think about ways to make the chess moves that will create change in the long term.”

Dr. Amanda Metcalfe, U.S. Air Force Academy Behavioral Sciences and Leadership assistant professor, answers a question during an introductory leadership class at the Academy March 21, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley)

The different cultural and gender perspectives she feels are particularly important at the Academy, where cadets come from a variety of cultural backgrounds within the United States, but may have a limited knowledge of international cultures.

“That’s part of an Air Force officer’s job,” Metcalfe said. “They’ll do their work here [in the U.S.], but there is a good chance they will be working in other cultures. I want them to be good perspective-takers. You want them to come away with a nuanced perspective in any culture they land in.”

Love of teaching

Metcalfe also organizes independent studies, in which she enlists the aid of students who have expressed interest in her area of study. She values their ability to take the tactical knowledge they’ve gained during their time at the Academy and employ it in their research scenarios.

This theoretical examination of real-world case studies better prepares them operate within their sphere of influence and in a hierarchical organization like the Air Force.

Teaching these skills, what Metcalfe calls the “human side of the operational Air Force,” is something she loves.

“I feel blessed to be able to show up every day and the things we get to teach cadets,” Metcalfe said.